India’s internet user base seen rising to 730 million by 2020

With the fast adoption of digital technology, the number of internet users in the country is expected to increase steadily, minister of communications Manoj Sinha said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

As per information received from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), there were 391.50 million internet subscribers as on 31 December 2016.

Further, according to a report prepared jointly by Nasscom and Akamai report released on 17 August 2016, The Future of Internet in India, 730 million internet users are anticipated in the country by 2020, the minister pointed out.

The National Telecom Policy-2012 envisaged 600 million broadband connections by 2020 at minimum 2 Mbps download speed, he said.

The government has allocated 965 Megahertz spectrum through auction in October 2016 to various telecom service providers for access services. This will enable the telecom service providers to roll out 3G and 4G services, which will facilitate proliferation of high speed internet facility.

Further, for provision of broadband facility in rural areas, the BharatNet project is also being implemented to provide 100 Mbps broadband connectivity to all the 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country by using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre-over-power-lines, radio and satellite media.